It is possible to be alive and yet never really live. If you never ask the right questions about your purpose, you will go through life as if in a catatonic state. Seeking the meaning of life points us to the void we encounter when we try to find satisfaction in the things of this world, especially when we consider the sum of our life with the end in mind.
One of the most awful situations is to be on your deathbed and realize that you missed the purpose of life. Those extra hours spent at work, the accumulation of material goods—it all means nothing at the end of life. You cannot take the things of this world with you when you die.
Death has a way of reminding us of purpose. Until tragedy strikes, it is easy to go about our lives without thinking about God. But death shows us a glimpse of reality, because every single one of us will die.
What do you want your life to add up to in the end?
If you’re not asking that question now, your purpose will be elusive, because living with purpose involves living with the end in mind.
Do not let your life be like a Monopoly game. The first rule of the game is: acquire, acquire, acquire. The second rule is: when the game is over, all the pieces go back in the box. Many people live like this—they amass possessions here on earth that cannot go with them when they die. If this is the way your life looks, you will not be satisfied.
The question is not what you’re going to leave behind—“everything” is always the answer to that—but what you are going to send ahead. If you want your life to matter, stop seeking after worldly possessions as a means of finding significance. Instead, submit your life to Christ and seek to know God and to make Him known to others.
Ultimately, living rightly with the end in mind and living a life that matters involves following the words of Jeremiah 9:23–24:
Thus says the Lord, “Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches; but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things,” declares the Lord.
God intends us to become conformed to the image of Christ. Unlike in Monopoly, our possessions do not define us. Our boast can only be in knowing and loving Christ.
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Watch more of Ken Boa’s Friday morning study videos here.
This series on purpose and passion is based on portions of Ken Boa’s Conformed to His Image: Biblical, Practical Approaches to Spiritual Formation.
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